PDF and XPS files

PDF and XPS files are a convenient way of circulating all kinds of document.
XPS files can be written and read as an integral part of Windows (from
Windows XP onwards), and PDF file readers are widely and freely available and,
because the format is both general purpose and common, most people already have a PDF
file reader installed on their computer. Writing PDF files
with Mozart requires other software however. Both free and commercial PDF writers which will work with Mozart
are readily available as described below.

Distributing Mozart files

This article discusses the pro's and con's of distributing your pieces in native Mozart format
(.mz) or as PDF or XPS files.

The Mozart Viewer

Mozart's .mz files may be viewed directly using the Mozart
Viewer. One doesn't need to buy Mozart in
order to view, print, and play files written with it. And the Mozart viewer is free. So if you have received a Mozart
file, just download the viewer from the Mozart viewer page,
install it, and use it to read the file. If
you wish to send Mozart files to a friend who does not have Mozart, then please just show them where the viewer may be found.

If you are sending .mz files to friends who don't have Mozart,
then please encourage them to download the free viewer: it is by far
the best way of viewing and printing Mozart files.

PDF files

PDF (Portable Document Format) is well known. It is readable by most computer systems (not just Windows)
and PDF files are found everywhere on the internet. The most popular way of creating PDF files from Mozart is to install a 3rd party
PDF-writer program which acts as a 'pseudo-printer'. Quite a number of these are available on the internet and quite a few are free.
When you install such a
program it adds a 'printer' to the list of those which you already have, but when you 'print' to this, a PDF file is generated instead of
output to a printer. We make no recommendation here of any particular such software, but recommend that you ask on the
Mozart Discussion Group where you'll find many people who have used
different programs of this kind.

Another way of producing a PDF file is to export a page image from Mozart, and paste it into a word processor document (see below),
as many word processors (for examle Word or WordPerfect) can export PDF files without needing any other software.

XPS files

XPS is a Microsoft file specification designed also to embody portable documents. Its capabilities are
essentially the same as for PDF for the purpose of distributing Mozart documents. It is less well known than PDF, but like PDF it is
implemented as a 'pseudo-print' option. The difference is that versions of Windows, starting with Windows XP, include this possibility
natively in their printer lists - no recourse to 3rd party software is necessary. Computers with non-Windows operating systems may not
always be able too read these files though.

Comparison of FORMATS

.mz files

.pdf files

.xps files

Create file

Save from Mozart

Write with readily available 3rd party 'pseudo-printer'

Write with Windows' own 'pseudo-printer.

Read file

with Mozart Viewerdownloadable from www.mozart.co.uk

with PDF readerYou almost certainly have one.

with XPS readerincluded with Windows from XP onwards

Printed output

Good

Good

Good

View on screen

Good. The Mozart Viewer ensures that parallel stave lines are always equally separated and coincide with screen pixels for an optimaly sharp image.

Can be poor.Closely spaced horizontal stave lines are not guaranteed to match screen pixel spacing, and the result can look uneven.

Can be poor.Closely spaced horizontal stave lines are not guaranteed to match screen pixel spacing, and the result can look uneven.

Other possibilities

If you export a page image with Mozart's CopyImage or SaveImage commands, you can paste the image into a word processor
such as WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. These days word processors are very good at scaling bitmap images and you can easily adjust the image to fill a page
of your document. Printing on a high resolution printer can give results close to Mozart's own carefully controlled print quality. You can also save PDF
files from some word processors without the need for 3rd party software.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This article owes much to a number of people's contributions to the
Mozart Discussion Group.
Thanks to all those who have contributed to the discussion there.